


Knitting

by x119



Series: Stitching & Strategy [1]
Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Humor, M/M, let's get sillay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x119/pseuds/x119
Summary: Thrawn has a new hobby and everyone gets to enjoy it.





	Knitting

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a little series of fics about these three about a year ago to distract myself from studying for exams! I shared them with a few friends but I've been trying to get back into writing and I've decided to post em anyway! They're not necessarily in chronological canon order (so ranks are not always the same??) but I'm just posting em in the order I wrote them. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! <3

Commander Karyn Faro stepped onto the bridge of the _Chimaera_ , keeping her head held high at attention despite the stares from the other officers and crew as she passed. She knew the reason, but there wasn’t much she could do about it – an order from the Admiral couldn’t be disobeyed, after all. Perhaps the other crew members were jealous they didn’t quite measure up to custom sweaters like the senior officers, and were still wearing their hats and mittens as they manned their controls. Whatever the reason, she just had to roll with it – as she did with so many bizarre instances aboard the _Chimaera_. 

Fellow Commander Eli Vanto burst onto the bridge in the midst of her thoughts, catching many more eyes as he traipsed onto the command deck next to her. By his body posture, she could tell he must have been irritated, but she couldn’t see much of his face, as he was covered nearly head to toe in various knitted garments – a hat, a scarf, his own custom sweater bearing his initials, and a pair of mittens. Beneath the many folds of the scarf wrapped around his face and neck, his rank plaque was hanging precariously sideways, with his code cylinders flopping around as they barely hung onto the yellow wool. Even his boots, which as of yet did not have any knitted extras attached to them, had pieces of wool stuck to them electrostatically. 

“Commander,” he said begrudgingly, noticing the large “KF” knitted into her pink sweater as she lowered her head politely in greeting. 

“I see you got one, too,” he said, his head tilting so he could better examine her new garment – it didn’t seem like he could see much with the scarf wrapped around most of his head. 

“Yes, and I’m quite flattered by the Admiral’s gift,” she responded crisply. “I see he’s decided to gift you a few things as well.”

“Gift?” Eli scoffed, his voice muffled behind the layers of the scarf around his mouth. “He makes me wear these. He says it’s too cold up here for me, because I’m not used to it. We’ve been serving together for more than a decade, and now he finally decides this? Can you believe that?” 

Faro smirked despite herself, fully aware of the sometimes-overbearing fondness that Admiral Thrawn displayed towards Vanto. 

“Oh, I can,” she answered, unclasping her hands from behind her back and brushing a few stray fibres from her own sweater. “Where is the Admiral, anyway? We’re approaching our destination, and - ”

As if on cue, Thrawn strode onto the bridge, garnering the more stares than either of the commanders that entered before him. He joined the two officers on the command bridge wearing a white admiral’s uniform that he appeared to have made himself out of wool. Even the black boots were knitted, and it looked as if he were about to slip on the floor several times during his approach. 

Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, Faro kept her cool. Eli appeared to be simmering with embarrassment, but it was impossible for anyone to tell, as wrapped up in Thrawn’s knitting as he was. 

“Greetings, Commander Vanto, Commander Faro,” Thrawn said in his normal cool demeanor, as if everything was normal and nothing outside of Imperial regulation was going on. “You both look wonderful.”

“Thank you, sir,” Faro replied quickly, snapping to attention. Eli was silent, his eyes staring daggers at Thrawn beneath his knitted hat.

“Please, update me on the current situation,” Thrawn asked, gesturing to the now functional tactical holo. His fingers twitched uncharacteristically as he did so, his other hand tugging at his knitted collar.

“We have not received any knew intel on the raid,” Faro answered. She continued to recount the original strategy the three of them had been planning, but it seemed like Thrawn couldn’t pay attention to anything she was saying. His eyes were watching the tactical holo, but Eli noticed his hands twisting at his sides and his toes scrunching uncomfortably against the polished floor of the command bridge. 

“Is there anything you would like to add, sir?” Faro asked as she was finished, and Thrawn’s glowing eyes continued to stare blankly at the tactical holo. His eyes narrowed slightly as he decided to risk a quick scratch at his arm. 

“I don’t believe so, Commander,” he began, the scratching becoming more vigorous as he went on. “I apologize, I’m quite - ”

“Is that itchy, sir?” Commander Vanto asked, the smirk evident in his voice. Faro watched the two of them, knowing that pointing out Vanto’s impropriety would do nothing. Thrawn continued to scratch at himself, now using both hands.

“Now you know how the rest of us feel,” Eli added sardonically when Thrawn refused to speak. 

“For the record, Commander Vanto doesn’t speak for all of us,” Commander Faro quipped. Eli rolled his eyes without any subtlety. “Personally, I enjoy your knitting, sir.”

“Thank you, Commander Faro,” Thrawn managed to say, ripping the yarn boots off his feet and leaving them bare. “Your appreciation of my many crafts does not go unnoticed.”

“Furthermore,” he continued, rolling up his yarn sleeves in some attempt to lessen the contact between his skin and the monstrosity he had knitted, “I will be returning to my quarters to incinerate this outfit. Commanders, please take the bridge.”

He barely got out his orders before he turned on his heel and sped out of the room, his bare feet slapping against the floor, his knitted boots abandoned next to the holotable where Eli and Faro still stood. 

As soon as the door closed behind Thrawn, Eli ripped off the accouterments Thrawn had so generously knitted for him, letting them join the ridiculous knitted boots on the ground below. Faro stood diligently next to him and kept her sweater on, her expression prideful as he eyed her incredulously. 

“Going sublight in five, sir, ma’am,” one of the crewmen said from the trench beneath them, his voice wavering as if he was unsure if he could, or should, speak after witnessing the entire fiasco. Faro quickly thanked him when Eli couldn’t, as he was too busy scratching at his now uncovered neck to respond. 

The sight of starlines fragmenting into realspace abruptly brought Eli back to reality, forcing him to finish his fevered scratching and join Faro at the tactical holo.

“All crew,” Faro began, her voice booming throughout the bridge, “remove your mittens. We have work to do.”


End file.
